Good Afternoon.

Would everyone please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance?

Flags are located at the front and back of the room.

Ladies and gentlemen, I welcome you to today’s hearing entitled “Quality vs. Quantity: Examining the Veterans Benefits Administration’s Employee Work Credit and Management Systems.” 

The purpose of the hearing is to examine how VBA’s employee work credit system and its Claims Processing Improvement (CPI) work management system model may contribute to diminished quality, accountability and accuracy in compensation and pension claims.  Today’s hearing continues this Subcommittee’s efforts to analyze various elements of the compensation and pension claims process over the 111th Congress, and marks the fifth oversight examination this year focused on ensuring that our veterans and survivors properly receive their benefits.  It is our collective quest to vanquish VBA’s backlog of claims and appeals, which currently exceeds one million.

We also intended for today’s hearing to provide an opportunity to examine a congressionally-mandated report on the VBA’s work credit and management systems outlined in legislation that I developed and sponsored during the 110th Congress, the Veterans Disability Benefits Claims Modernization Act of 2008, H.R. 5892, (codified in P.L. 110–389).  This goal of this legislation, among other things, was to provide VBA with a valuable roadmap to assess and improve its work credit and management systems to produce better claims outcomes for our veterans.

The deadline for this report was October 31, 2009 and I note that we have yet to receive it.  However, VA has authorized its independent research contractor that was retained to complete this report, the Center for Naval Analyses (CNA), to testify before us today concerning a summary of the report’s findings and recommendations.  VA advised the Subcommittee that the report is still under review by the agency and OMB, and that it should be transmitted to Congress soon.  We look forward to hearing today when this report will be ready and submitted to Congress, and getting a better understanding of why it has not yet been delivered.

Since 2007, the VBA has added over 7,100 claims processing personnel and Congress has funded these requests.  Yet the backlog still climbs.  This is not to say that adding additional workforce is has not been beneficial.  Had Congress not provided these new claims processors, the backlog might have been even worse than it is today, given the exponential growth in claims receipts.  As the VA itself acknowledged at Chairman Filner’s Claims roundtable in March, this is a sign of a broken system.  The mounting claims backlog is a symptom that can not be addressed until the VA truly refocuses itself on adjudicating claims correctly the first time.  We need to continue to look at the system with fresh eyes and determine how a new outlook can help VA fix its claims processing system and get the claims backlog under control.

In convening today’s hearing, the Subcommittee seeks to further explore how the VBA’s work credit incentives and flawed CPI model may be significantly contributing to delays and errors in the claims process.  It is my hope that in continuing to examine this issue, we will be able to help veterans secure the benefits they deserve and prevent them from suffering further injury as a result of delays in receiving disability benefits.  That is why I want to revisit the issue of partial, provisional and temporary ratings. I believe that if VA increases the use of this authority and also awards a credit to claims processing personnel who use it.  This will go a long way in making sure that many more veterans can begin to receive their benefits more promptly.  I would like VA to address this issue when it testifies.

Today we will also hear from Veterans Service Organization and Veterans Advocacy Groups who will explain their vision for how the VA should address the problem with VBA claims processing.  From them, I hope to gain a better understanding of the underlying issues that led to such an unmanageable claims backlog at VBA, and if they believe that VA is directing its efforts in the right direction to address the issue.  Specifically, I would like to know if you agree with VBA’s assertion that it emphasizes quality on par with quantity and timeliness.

I look forward to the testimony of our witnesses and insightful comments and questions from my colleagues on the Subcommittee.  I now recognize Ranking Member Lamborn for his opening statement.